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OAKLAND — It’s time to ratchet up the rhetoric not only against a U.S. troop increase in Afghanistan, but in favor of withdrawing our troops and rescinding the authorization that sent them there eight years ago, Rep. Barbara Lee told a cheering crowd Monday.

Lee, D-Oakland, staged a rally outside the federal building on Clay Street in support of HR3699, a bill she introduced Oct. 1 that would forbid spending any money to expand the nation’s military presence in Afghanistan. President Barack Obama is currently considering what to do in Afghanistan; military leaders want more troops, but the public and Congress are divided.

Lee drew applause from the crowd of about 150 as she thanked the President for thoughtfully reviewing U.S. strategy.

“There is nothing wrong with dithering,” she said, using a term critics have employed against Obama. “When trying to make the best decision on behalf of our men and women in uniform and on behalf of our national security, he’s right to take his time.”

Lee — accompanied on stage at the rally by 1960s activist and former state lawmaker Tom Hayden, actor and activist Danny Glover, veterans’ rights activist Paul Cox and Alameda County Central Labor Committee Executive Secretary-Treasurer Sharon Cornu — said a military escalation will only fan the flames of insurgency and further destabilize the region, so “none of us can stand idly by and wait.”

And as the economy continues to

sputter, jobs remain scarce and education costs rise, “the economic reality is that we cannot afford, either in blood or treasure, an open-ended war.”

Lee in 2001 was the lone vote in Congress against a resolution authorizing the use of force against those who had perpetrated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Now, she said, demanding an Afghanistan exit strategy with a firm timeline isn’t enough — “we need to repeal” the 2001 authorization, she told the cheering crowd. “You’ve got to be the wind beneath our wings. You’ve got to help push the Congress.”

HR3699, she said, is a first step toward that. The bill’s 23 co-sponsors include Rep. Pete Stark, D-Fremont; Rep. Mike Honda, D-San Jose; and Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma.

Lee chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, and members of that caucus last week blocked the House Financial Services Committee from taking up the Obama administration’s financial-sector regulation reform bill. They complained that their constituencies aren’t being given a role in financial-sector economic recovery programs, and that the administration isn’t doing enough to create jobs for minorities and the poor.

Lee denied Monday that the reform bill’s delay and Monday’s rally signal disappointment with Obama’s presidency. As for the bill’s delay, she said, “I think you see the bill has not been presented before the committee, and we’ll be talking again about that.”

Read the Political Blotter at www.ibabuzz.com/politics.